Israel to investigate reports of mass grave of Egyptian soldiers

Israeli PM Lapid gives assurance to President El Sisi in call, Egypt says

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi. Reuters

Egypt said on Sunday that Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid has agreed to investigate reports of a mass grave in central Israel containing the bodies of Egyptian commandos killed during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi brought up the issue during a call with Mr Lapid, according to the Egyptian leader’s office.

“Mr Lapid has promised that the Israeli side will deal with the matter proactively and transparently, and will co-ordinate with the Egyptian authorities on what transpired with the aim of reaching the truth,” the office said.

Two Israeli newspapers — Yedioth Ahronoth and Haaretz — have recently published archival material and interviews with witnesses about how dozens of Egyptian commandos killed in battle may be buried in an area between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

“The Egyptian president raised the report about the collective grave of Egyptian soldiers during the [1967] war,” Mr Lapid’s office said.

He directed his military secretary “to examine the issue in depth and update Egyptian officials", the Israeli office said.

In the war, Israel captured Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, from Jordan.

Egypt fought Israel again in 1973, when Egyptian forces crossed the Suez Canal in a surprise attack.

The two neighbours signed a peace treaty in 1979, the first between an Arab state and Israel.

Israel’s agreement to investigate the reports of the mass grave reflects the closeness and depth of relations now binding the two countries, which co-operate in counter-terrorism and battling human trafficking.

The two nations also co-ordinate policies on the Gaza Strip, ruled since 2007 by the militant Palestinian group Hamas, with Cairo often mediating between the two sides in times of hostilities.